Wu Fei and Shanir Blumenkranz

Classically trained composer, vocalist, and virtuoso of the East Asian guzheng zither Wu Fei teams up with Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, master of the Middle Eastern oud lute and double bass, to create a genre-crossing sonic landscape you won't soon forget. This playful duo is a product of Fei and Blumenkranz's multicultural origins and training, which spans North Africa, Eastern Europe, and China. Fei draws on a repertoire of ancient Tang Dynasty poems, Chinese operas, folk songs, and tongue twisters from her childhood, while Blumenkranz channels the traditions of the Silk Road. Their musical dialogues date from Qin Dynasty China to the modern day, including a movement from Fei’s orchestral composition Hello Gold Mountain, inspired by real stories of European Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai in WWII. Though the oud and the guzheng share more than 2,500 years of history, these artists' unique orchestration and innovative ideas serve as a time machine to bridge lost eras into the future.